Chapter 4

It only took 40 minutes to get from the airport back to the apartment Jaxson and I had shared. Our high school had been far from home. We had rented the apartment together so we could focus on studying.

As I pushed open the door, the motion-sensor light in the entryway flicked on. Its warm glow fell across the shoe cabinet, where two pairs of matching couple's slippers sat side by side.

I walked straight into the bedroom. There, I pulled two suitcases out from under the bed and laid them open on the carpet.

Then, I calmly packed my clothes, books, and laptop.

As I packed, memories of everything we had shared kept flashing before my eyes. A photo of us at an amusement park was still stuck to the refrigerator. On the bookshelf sat the copy of "The Solitude of the Century" that I'd marked, but he had never bothered to open.

Even in the bathroom, our electric toothbrushes still hung side by side.

Everything in the apartment carried a piece of the life we'd once shared. The sweeter those memories were, the more painful reality felt now.

When I opened a drawer in the wardrobe, my hand paused.

Inside lay a gray scarf. It was the same style as the pink scarf around Ingrid's neck at the airport today.

I stared at it for three seconds before letting out a soft laugh.

So, he couldn't even be bothered to choose different gifts. His mass-produced devotion was truly something to behold.

I didn't take it. I put it back exactly where it had been.

Two hours later, both suitcases were packed to the brim.

I looked around the apartment. Half the closet was empty. Half the bookshelf was empty. Half the bottles and toiletries on the bathroom counter were gone as well.

The entire home looked as though half of it had been carved away cleanly.

I walked to the entryway and slipped the matching ring off my finger. I placed it in the center of the shoe cabinet beside the apartment key.

Next to them, I set the cover of the graduation trip itinerary that I'd torn off and brought back from the trash. Every page of the itinerary had been crossed out with a red pen.

On the inside cover, I wrote one final sentence. "May your storms finally come to an end. Jaxson, you're free now."

I took one last look at the place I'd poured my heart into for three years. The lights were still warm, but it was no longer my home.

I closed the door.

The click of the lock cut me off from everything that had come before.

Dragging my suitcases into the elevator, I finally felt the tension that had been holding me together melt away as the doors closed. A tear fell onto the back of my hand without warning.

It was the last tear I would ever shed for those 18 years.

I didn't cry because I couldn't let go. I was just mourning the youth I'd wasted on someone who never deserved it.

After seeing Ingrid off, Jaxson sat down in the airport's VIP lounge and let out a long sigh.

Watching the planes take off outside the window, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief and satisfaction. He had finally gotten rid of the troublemaker.

He snapped a photo of the terminal and posted it to his social media account that was visible only to his close friends.

He wrote, "The storm has finally passed. Now I can give my full attention to what matters."

After posting it, he leaned back on the couch and began planning tomorrow's trip to the island.

Jaxson was sure that I was still angry, but that was fine. Once he got to the island, he'd take me to the cliffside restaurant and take out the diamond ring he'd already prepared.

I loved him so much. All he had to do was sweet-talk me a little, and I would definitely forgive him.

The following evening, Jaxson landed at Fenric Airport of Sundale and headed straight for the reserved ocean-view room.

He pushed open the door and called out, "Mira, I'm here..."

Before he could finish speaking, he froze.